At the Sign of Triumph: Safehold, Book 9

The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels.

Shadow of Victory

Sometimes things don't work out exactly as planned. The Mesan Alignment has a plan - one it's been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race - its way. Until recently things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history.

Koban: Conflict and Empire

The Galactic Federation is confronted by the vast and implacable Thandol Empire, which has coveted the former Krall region of space for eons, a region of space now occupied and claimed by the upstart Kobani. Outnumbered, they face an opponent who possesses new and deadly weapons. An enemy that had thousands of years to develop the means to take on the Krall Empire, and now present the supermen with a weapon that turns their greatest genetic asset into their greatest weakness.

Crusade: Starfire, Book 1

Spacers call the warp point Charon's Ferry. No star ship has ever entered it and returned since a vengeful Orion task force pursued a doomed Terran colonization fleet into it in 2206. Almost a century has passed. The fiery hatreds of a quarter-century of warfare between the Terran Federation and the Zheeerlikou'valkhannaieeee, the cat-like species humans called the "Orions", have eased at least a little.

Off Armageddon Reef: Safehold Series, Book 1

When Earth herself lay under siege by an enemy humankind could not defeat, mankind undertook one last throw of the dice: Operation Ark. Earth's final colonizing expedition was meant to build a new civilization, on a planet so distant even the Gbaba might never find it, and without the high-tech infrastructure whose emissions might betray its location.

Hell's Gate: Multiverse, Book 1

Arcana has never encountered another intelligent species while exploring scores of other worlds. No cities, no vast empires, no civilizations, and no equivalent of their own dragons, gryphons, spells, and wizards. But all of that is about to change. It seems there is intelligent life elsewhere in the multiverse. Other human intelligent life, with terrifying new weapons and powers of the mind...and wizards who go by the strange title of ''scientist''.

Hard Lessons: A Learning Experience, Book 2

Fifty years after Steve Stuart and his friends captured an alien starship, the Solar Union is a thriving interstellar power while Earth is increasingly backward and falling into barbarism. For two youngsters from Earth, the Solar Union offers the only chance they will ever have to make something of their lives.

A Learning Experience, Book 1

When a bunch of interstellar scavengers approach Earth intending to abduct a few dozen humans and sell them into slavery in the darkest, they make the mistake of picking on Steve Stuart and his friends, ex-military veterans all. Unprepared for humans who can actually fight, unaware of the true capabilities of their stolen starships, the scavengers rapidly lose control of the ship - and their lives.

The Black Sheep: A Learning Experience, Book 3

In the wake of Earth's collapse into chaos, Captain Hoshiko Stuart made the mistake of speaking her mind - and was exiled six months from Sol to a naval base in an unexplored and uncontacted sector. Placed in command of a single squadron of starships, she expected nothing but boredom. But when she discovers an alien race threatening to exterminate all other races within the sector, Hoshiko and her squadron are drawn into a war to stop them.

A Call to Duty: Book I of Manticore Ascendant

Growing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order and discipline in his life...he two things his neglectful mother couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he’d finally found the structure he’d always wanted so desperately. But life in the RMN isn’t exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of budgetary extinction.

The Sword of the South

Know thyself. Its always good to know who you are, but sometimes that's a little difficult. Kenhodan has no last name because he has no past...or not one he remembers, anyway. What he does have are a lot of scars and a lot of skills - some exhilarating and some terrifying - and a purpose. Now, if he only knew where he'd gotten them and what their purpose was....

Metal Boxes

Coming of age can be hard for anyone. But for Blackmon Perry Stone it is life threatening. At 15, he barely manages to graduate from the empire's cadet training by a talent for unusual problem solving. He has trouble settling into navy life, but life becomes harder when he uncovers a ring of thieves aboard the huge ship. Life becomes difficult when they killed him.

March Upcountry: Prince Roger Series, Book 1

Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. So it wasn't surprising that he became spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?

The news that humanity had been dreading for ages had come true. Zombies are real. Worst of all, we created them. The apocalypse was upon us, and every man, woman and child had to answer a simple question of themselves: "What do we do now?"

War Maid’s Choice: War God, Book 4

In Wind Rider’s Oath, Bahzell became a wind rider - the first hradani wind rider in history. And, even if Bahzell is the War God’s champion, because the wind riders are the elite of the elite among the Sothoii, Bahzell’s ascension is as likely to stir resentment as respect. What’s more, Baron Tellian’s daughter, the heir to the realm, seems to be thinking that he is the only man - or hradani - for her. Now, War Maid’s Choice continues the story - and things really get complicated.

ALICE Resurrection: Alice, Book 3

Colonel Jake Thomas has a mess on his hands. The losses on Klinan have gutted an already short-staffed defense force, and his people are scrambling to prepare for a possible attack, directly on Earth. Combined with the seemingly erratic behavior of Sara, his number-one go-to girl, he is struggling to keep up. Now, with unexplained transmissions originating in Europe, and an Alien visitor with questionable motives, he is awash in new challenges on Earth and in space.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners

With New Orleans out of control, Chad Oliver Gardenier, one of Monster Hunter International's premier hunters, has been dispatched from Seattle to reinforce the beleaguered members of MHI'S Hoodoo Squad in their fight against the darkness.

Boundary: Boundary Series, Book 1

A daring and resourceful paleontologist uncovers something at the infamous K-T boundary marking the end of dinosaurs in the fossil record - something big, dangerous, and absolutely, categorically impossible. It's a find that will catapult her to the Martian moon Phobos, then down to the crater-pocked desert of the Red Planet itself. For this mild-mannered fossil hunter may just have become Earth's first practicing xenobiologist!

Into the Guns: America Rising, Book 1

On May Day 2018, 60 meteors entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded around the globe with a force greater than a nuclear blast. Earthquakes and tsunamis followed. Then China attacked Europe, Asia, and the United States in the belief the disaster was an act of war. Washington, DC was a casualty of the meteor onslaught that decimated the nation's leadership and left the surviving elements of the armed forces to try to restore order as American society fell apart.

Oath of Swords: War God, Book 1

Bahzell is no knight in shining armor, and besides he has too many problems of his own to be messing with anybody else's problems - let alone the War God's. Unfortunately, the War God has other ideas for him.

The Shadow of Saganami

The Star Kingdom has a new generation of officers! And this elite group hand-picked and trained by Honor Harrington herself is going to be needed immediately, as their first assignment turns out to be more dangerous than anyone expected. What was supposed to be a quiet outpost, far from the blazing conflict between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven has actually been targeted by an unholy alliance between the slaveholders of Manpower.

Archangel Down: Archangel Project, Book 1

Commander Noa Sato plans a peaceful leave on her home planet, Luddeccea, but winds up interrogated and imprisoned for her involvement in the Archangel Project. A project she knows nothing about. Professor James Sinclair wakes in the snow, not remembering the past 24 hours or knowing why he is being pursued. The only thing he knows is that he has to find Commander Sato, a woman he's never met.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge

When marine private Oliver Chadwick Gardenier is killed in the marine barrack bombing in Beirut, somebody who might be Saint Peter gives him a choice: Go to heaven, which, while nice, might be a little boring, or return to earth. The Boss has a mission for him, and he's to look for a sign. He's a marine: He'll choose the mission. Unfortunately, the sign he's to look for is "57". Which, given the food services contract in Bethesda Hospital, creates some difficulty. Eventually it appears that God's will is for Chad to join a group called Monster Hunters International.

Wizard Scout: Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles, Book 3

Richard is only in his junior year at the Academy, but it may well be his last. The war with the bat-like Crosioians is straining the resources of the Intergalactic Empire to the breaking point. Every soldier is needed on the front lines to stave off the Empire's destruction. Not to mention politicians are eyeing the Academy as a financial drain that can no longer be justified. To top things off, teams of spell-wielding magic users have been spotted reconnoitering near the Academy.

Publisher's Summary

Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity’s cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, over half the human race has died.

Now Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize the scattered survivors without getting killed. His chances look bleak. The aliens have definitely underestimated human tenacity - but no amount of heroism can endlessly hold off overwhelming force.

Then, emerging from the mountains and forests of Eastern Europe, new allies present themselves to the ragtag human resistance. Predators, creatures of the night, human in form but inhumanly strong. Long Enemies of humanity…until now. Because now is the time to defend Earth.

What the Critics Say

"Weber pulls off this conceit in audacious style with a focus on military-powered action that will thrill fans of his Honor Harrington series, and he keeps the pedal to the metal right up to the almost unbelievable conclusion." (Publishers Weekly)

I thought I was reading a Clancy novel at first, the attention to detail and the technical descriptions were first rate. The interplay between politics and social structure of the aliens and how that both helped and hindered their mission was fascinating.

The story was completely believable and I was totally hooked - until the ending completely blew it. It's as if the author was told he had an hour to finish the book and he just threw some nonsense at it.

This story is far too incomplete. I expected a better, more detailed story from David Weber, but this one has a pivotal character in the tale coming in late with almost no background information or personality. I am very disappointed.

It was all good; a little heavy on details about weapons, but that's to be expected from David Weber, but the ending. It was like a Star Trek ending where they make up some technobabble to get them out of the fix they were in during the last 5 minutes of the episode.

I have to wonder if he didn't intend this to be the 1st book in a trilogy and then decided it was just going to be a single book so had to be able to wrap it up after writing a good portion of the book.

The book is fairly strong throughout the majority, with plenty of interesting tactics on both parts. However within the last hour of the book it goes steadily down hill. I've never said WTF out loud at an audio book, but this definitely caused it. I'd say if you go into it with full knowledge of the ending being screwy, it's not a bad purchase.

I liked the concept of aliens attacking Earth and ending up in a situation like the US in Vietnam at first, but the story soon got a bit monotonous, overly descriptive of each and every gun/weapon to the point of nausea, and then the ending was out of left field.

Spoilers ahead, the US in Vietnam analogy was soon lost because part of the reason the Earth was winning during actual fighting was because our technology for war was better than theirs. So at this I thought a real opportunity to comment on war being more than just who has the best toys was lost. Beyond that, so much was made in the beginning of the story of how abhorrently violent the Earthlings were, but then later we find out its common practice for the various creatures of the universe to enslave other sentient species as long as they haven't invented electronics??? Also the idea that they would invade our planet without doing a bit of research first? they took the time to get info, but after traveling millions of miles through space they don't take the time to evaluate the info???

Even though the story had it's share of lapses in common sense it was still a reasonably enjoyable story that I listened too on a long drive, and then... (big spoiler here) in the last two hours of the story, from out of nowhere, DRACULA himself makes an appearance to personally do his part to save humanity from alien enslavement...??? WTHeck...??? way to totally ruin it IMO. Before that the author seemed to do his best to make this a logical and pretty realistic portrayal of contact with an aggressive alien race, and oh buy the way Vampires are real too... :)

I liked the Prince Roger books, and this story started out pretty decent, but you don't just introduce a whole new belief system at the end of the book. I was waiting in the final minutes to hear that Jesus came down from heaven and brought everybody back to life too!

First, Charles Keating is a great reader and was excellent in rendering this story. Second, Weber's premise was an interesting variation on the theme of aliens invade Earth and eventually get their asses kicked. The problem is that Weber contrived an ending that made no sense from the rest of the story. He could have developed many more plausible endings that would have flowed logically from the various story lines. So, it looks to me like he wanted to finish off the story, was tired of it, and just came up with a whacky way to do it. You will hear the usual Weberian internal musings, digressions, and ocassional political polemics that characterize his later work. He sounds a lot like Tom Clancy in his love of weapons of violence and their many models, attributes, and killing capacities.In summary, this is a decent piece of commercial work for Weber, but not anywhere close to his best.

I think if the narrator did better at character distinguishment, it would have been better. Too single toned, sometimes I lost place in not knowing from who's perspective I was listening too. I regret this purchase.

This was my first Weber novel, and it will probably be my last, unless someone convinces me that his other books don't ramble on and on about the hardware every single character uses. The story is very "high concept," action-packed, full of Americans saving the day, and ends improbably. Really, really improbably. You wouldn't believe the "twist" except that it's pretty obvious if you read the book's description (or other reviews).

This would have been a great graphic novel; cynically, I suspect Weber is hoping to lure interest from Hollywood. If you like military SF, I guess Out of the Dark has the requisite amount of blowing stuff up, but the characters were cardboard (including the aliens) and the writing was full of tedious infodumps.

Charles Keating is a good narrator but... he sounds like a crusty old Englishman. I kind of got used to imagining the Shongairi all sounding like British colonial officers talking about how to put down these nasty primitives. His accent doesn't work so well with the mostly American human cast, though.

I loved this book right up until the last couple of chapters when the author lost the plot and introduced a truly strange twist to the plot. It's almost as if he ran out of ideas and so he came up with the most implausible ending he could find.

I've listened/read a few David Weber stories now and I've really liked some of them. The 'march upcountry' series, for example, I really enjoyed. That said, I have the same issues with many of his stories, and they were especially obvious in this book - the author goes into an awful lot of unnecessary detail! In some cases, this can be quite interesting; I learnt about making swords, what makes a seaworthy boat and how best to use pike-men in the 'march ...' series. However, in this book the author spends so much time discussing guns and tanks, using alot of jargon, that I tend to tune out as it becomes incomprehensible to me!

He also spends the majority of the book telling the listener what is going on through large amounts of exposition, and not showing us. The events which are told as they are happening are very engaging and enjoyable, but too much of the action is skipped in favour of the events being told through conversations after the event.

I didn't hate this novel (i did finish it, after all), but it was certainly hard work, self indulgent (naming the pets after two characters from another series? Not cool!) and could have been much better.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

martin

MACCLESFIELD, United Kingdom

12/9/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"DOGS FROM OUTER SPACE"

Would you listen to Out of the Dark again? Why?

Yes, decent sci fi story. If you like Footfall or World War In The Balance you'll like this. Basically David Weber read both these books then and combined them to come up with this...which is no bad thing.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Out of the Dark?

That would be near the beginning when the fighter pilots run into the Aliens and chaos ensues.

Which character – as performed by Charles Keating – was your favourite?

The Leader of the Aliens.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending...you gotta feel sorry for the Aliens

Any additional comments?

The end is kind of...well silly really. Wont spoil it but...made me chuckle. You'd think if you were going to invade a Planet you'd do a bit more research though.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Ariana

Norfolk, United Kingdom

9/11/11

Overall

"Loved it"

Yes, it's very different to the usual David Weber, but very enjoyable for all that. I really enjoyed all the little hints and subtle jokes in this book, and I guessed fairly early on what the deux ex machina was, the clues were all there if you pay attention. I found it very satisfying.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

J. Arnold

UK

2/8/11

Overall

"Ruined by a ludicrous ending...."

A reasonably enjoyable story, with excellent narration.
However the ending of the story is ludicrous and a complete let down. Its like the author gave up and decided to go for something silly for a bet.
Might have well have ended with Harry Potter and Ron turning up and casting a magic spell to make the baddies turn in to hat-stands.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Stephen

hornchurch, United Kingdom

8/7/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Really good"

Any additional comments?

Great sci fi book really enjoyed it.I hope there is some more books to follow it

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Ian

Thetford, United Kingdom

3/23/13

Overall

"Different but good"

Simple put this book is about an race called the Shongairi who have conquered the earth and killed millions of people and this book tells the stroy of the people who fight back the end is different and not what you expect but it is still a very good book.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Edward

St Peters, Australia

11/3/10

Overall

"ummm no"

Obviously draws some inspiration from America's 'War on Terror' which makes for interesting comparisons but the hugely, lengthy descriptions of earth weapons and the damage they could inflict becomes boring fast - I zoned out a lot during those parts as it was like listening to a technical instruction manual. And where the audience might like more description eg the aliens, their history and battle scenes the descriptions are pretty basic.
I don't think the narrator was suited AND the ending - jeez ... talk about ridiculous ...

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Christopher

birmingham, west midlands, United Kingdom

12/7/10

Overall

"great story not so great ending"

When i first started it was hard to get in to the story. But once past the first chapters and the history lesson it really gets good. But VAMPIRES the really was know need.

0 of 2 people found this review helpful

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